In my first piece for Watchdog.org I tell the story of Destinations Career Academy, the first online charter school in Wisconsin that is focused on career and technical education. Nicholaus Sutherland, the head of school at Destinations Career Academy, described the school as, “a comprehensive high school online program that will yield a diploma but will […]

Those of you who are parents will know about this program for kids in grade school. The AR program is supposedly set up to make kids read. They need to accumulate so many points before they can go to the next level. Rather than encourage kids to challenge themselves by reading something a little difficult […]

Over at the MacIver Institute, I lament the lack of an education plan from Mary Burke even though the NEA’s Lily Eskelsen García promised us one. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, García said, “Burke is getting ready to release her K-12 education platform, and she wanted to talk with real teachers and other educators […]

The Ready to Plagiarize “Wisconsin Children First 4-Point Education Reform Agenda” MILWAUKEE (Sept. 26, 2014) Recognizing it takes “hundreds of hours” to draft original plans, today the Wisconsin Federation for Children offered a “ready to plagiarize” education reform agenda. Any candidate is free to copy “limited passages” or adopt the entire plan word-for-word.As a public […]

Waukesha Freeman August 28, 2014 Page A5 Opinion Back to school We interrupt this summer for school. For so many parents and children, the return to the school routine has begun already. George Orwell wrote of his years in school, “So far as Crossgate goes, it also seems, when I look back, that all of […]

I can’t join my kid for lunch. THURSDAY: Gyro with pita and rice pilaf, Buffalo chicken wrap, Buffalo chicken pizza, garden green beans, celery sticks, banana, pineapple tidbits, milk I wonder if he and I can just crash the local high school on Thursday? I don’t remember these kinds of hot lunches when I was […]

Your tax dollars at work. The UW System reminds us again they have no understanding what a university is for. I’m not the type that worries too much about liberalism on campus. But I do worry when political correctness becomes an authoritarian regime and starts banning discussion or even books on campus. Surely if there […]

Miles Turner, the executive director of Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, wrote an op-ed trying to claim that the new scoring system used for public schools has no public policy value. In the op-ed, which was sent to newspapers across the state, Turner also failed to tell “the rest of the story” about school […]

Republicans miss chance on education Waukesha Freeman Page 6A Opinion 4/4/2013 The loss Tuesday night by State Rep. Don Pridemore (R-Hartford) in the race for state superintendent for Public Instruction is yet another reminder of how Republicans in Wisconsin are determined to give away education as an issue. Pridemore lost to the incumbent, Tony Evers, […]

National School Choice Week started last night with events in Los Angeles and Phoenix. Phoenix drew over 7200 people, including the Jonas Brothers. Here is a report from the Los Angeles kick-off event: I spoke with Andrew Campanella, President of National School Choice Week, this morning as his train headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico for […]